Hazara students' suffering from violent protests

Hazara protests make students suffer
Peshawar, Apr 16: Students particularly the non-locals suffered the worst due to the four-day spell of violent protests in the restive parts of Hazara division particularly Abbottabad, which came to an end on Thursday apparently with the passage of the 18th Amendment by the Upper House of the Parliament.

The administration of Abbottabad, Haripur and Mansehra had announced closure of all the educational institutions for three days after the violence on Monday that left eight people dead and around a hundred injured.

The schools, colleges and universities in the three districts reopened on Thursday. But attendance was quiet low, as majority of the non-local students could not return due to the non-availability of transport till Wednesday night.

The non-local students had also suffered great hardships in going home in other districts of the province and elsewhere in the country after their institutions were closed and the hostels vacated.

Hailing from Peshawar, one such student of a private institute of engineering sciences said that he along with 20 other fellows managed to reach the provincial metropolis after 12-hour drive. The journey could be normally covered in three hours. He said that they had to change four vehicles to reach Peshawar, as the roads were blocked and transport not available.

Abbottabad is also referred to as the city of schools for housing leading educational institutions from pre-nursery to PhD level, medical colleges, engineering universities and other professional institutes. These seats of learning attract students from across the country.

If development is judged from education, Abbottabad can be termed as the most developed city of the province with over 90 per cent literacy rate. Also it has far better infrastructure than any other city of the province including the provincial capital.

Abbottabad has five medical colleges including the public sector Ayub Medical College and Women Medical College, Frontier Medical College, Abbottabad International Medical College and National Institute of Medical Sciences in private sector.

There are two engineering universities - a sub-campus of NWFP University of Engineering and Technology and Comsats - besides a university of science and technology Abbottabad in the city. Also there are more than 50 other educational institutions of high standard like Army Burn Hall College, Abbottabad Public School and others.

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Hamdard University, Islamabad Campus degree-awarding ceremony
Islamabad: Universities are places where knowledge is born, nurtured and passed on to the next generations as a tool for leading a better life.

This was stated by Federal Minister for Education Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali while speaking as chief guest at the seventh degree-awarding ceremony of the Hamdard University, Islamabad Campus, here on Thursday.

The minister said that the ability of a nation to use knowledge to gain a competitive edge in the world is all an endeavour of its leadership centres - the universities. The Hamdard University aims at translating into reality the ideals of Shaheed Hakim Mohammed Said and symbolises the nation's hopes and aspirations by its high standard of quality education.

"Fortunately, Allah has endowed us with immense qualities and great potential to strive for knowledge and skills, achieve higher skills and a higher order of being as humans, and Hamdard University is an emblem in this faith. The fields of Medicine, Tibb, Engineering, Pharmacy, Information Technology, Business Management and Law are all enriched by the quality of students Hamdard University is producing. Hakim Said's aim was to impart quality education while giving the religious and traditional way of life its due importance," the federal minister said.

Degrees were later awarded to the students of MBA, MBA-ITM, BBA-Hons, BBA-ITM, BE-IT, MCS, Doctor of Pharmacy and Bachelors of Pharmacy, and Bachelors of Engineering in Electronics Engineering and Tele Communication Engineering and BE-CSE. Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali congratulated young men and women for their devotion to learning and receiving their degrees.

Hamdard University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Nasim A. Khan, while speaking on the occasion, said the Hamdard University is the largest private sector university in Pakistan, with an enrolment of 7,542 at present and has produced 16,141 graduates since its inception. "This is a significant contribution towards the goal of providing higher education to a large segment of the younger generation in Pakistan and meet the future manpower needs of the country," he said.

Hamdard University (Islamabad Campus) Director General Professor Dr. Masud Ahmed Malik said last year, they received the accreditation of the Doctor of Pharmacy programme, while hospital attachment for the training of pharmacy graduates continues with the Federal Government Polyclinic.

Hamdard Foundation President Mohtarma Sadia Rashid said that the convocation might seem like culmination but it actually is a new beginning of the practical adult life. Giving the example of her father Shaheed Hakim Mohammad Said, she said from one room and a few pieces of rented furniture, he built up the whole empire of Hamdard. "This is the power of one person, but it all happened because he believed in honesty, hard work and helping his fellow men. Allah's blessings are always with such a person, who believes in himself," she said.

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Medical college, technology institute at QAU mulled over
Islamabad: A joint delegation of the Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) and Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Thursday visited Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) and discussed ways and means with the administration to establish a medical college and an institute of technology under the public-private partnership mechanism.

The delegation held a detailed meeting with Vice Chancellor QAU Dr Masoom Yasinzai and deans during which Adil Anwar, Chief Executive Officer IPDF, also presented different proposals for public-private partnerships in education and health sectors.

The VC showed keen interest in establishing the medical college and the institute of technology within the premises of the University campus under the public-private partnership mechanism. He said the University could easily accommodate both institutes, as it has quality human resource (faculty) and infrastructure, adding that it is the need of the hour for public sector universities to reduce their dependence on the national exchequer.

Adil Anwar on the occasion said the public-private partnership in education sector is very common around the globe. In Pakistan, there is a lot of participation of private sector in education but a partnership of public and private sectors for a joint educational facility at this level would be something new in the country, he added.

He said the meeting and presentation ended on a positive note, as they have full support of the QAU VC and the deans present at the meeting due to the fact that the resources and technical assistance would be extended by the private sector.

It was proposed that a project steering committee, comprising representatives from IPDF, HEC and QAU, would be formed to oversee the technical consultants in preparation of the feasibility reports and needs & options analysis. Director General (Planning) HEC Dr M Mazhar Saeed also accompanied the delegation. The news

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Beaconhouse students' performance enthrals audience
Islamabad: Children at Beaconhouse Kindergarten, F-7/4, on Thursday presented various programmes carrying a message of hope and peace.

"Let's make this world a better place for you and me," the kindergarten children sang, leaving the audience spellbound.

The event was annual parents' day where more than 200 parents were also present and the school management had invited the city police chief, Kaleem Imam, as the chief guest.

The holding of parents' day function was a clear indication that the city life was coming back to normal as only four months back educational institutions were too afraid to hold public gatherings in the face of growing security fears.

The children presented six skits, each of five to seven minutes duration. The performance ranged from singing, classical dance by nicely dressed girls of class I, two brief drama performances, one in English and the other in Urdu, to display of physical exercises. Dawn

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French course for teachers at NUML
Islamabad: National University of Modern Languages (NUML) with the support of French Embassy, is organising a one-week training for the professors of French language.

Approximately 40 professors from Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Faislabad, Quetta, Islamabad and Rawalpindi are getting lectures from French Professor Mohamed Embarki, from the Franche-ComtÇ University in France. The training focuses on the role of pronunciation (phonetics) in French (foreign language) classes. Ambassador of France, Daniel Jouanneau, visited NUML on Thursday accompanied by the NUML vice chancellor and met the professors.

He commended such initiatives, which contribute to the promotion of French language in Pakistan.

This initiative is part of a French language support programme for schools and universities of Pakistan.

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Quaid-i-Azam University Distinction
Islamabad: Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) has awarded the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree to Ms Saima Altaf, Lecturer of Statistics at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, says a press release.

In her research titled 'Statistical Analysis of the Paired Comparison Models through Bayesian Approach', under the supervision of Prof Dr Muhammad Aslam, former chairman of the QAU Statistics Department, objects are compared pair-wise, which is useful for quality control in the Pakistani industry.

Her PhD thesis was evaluated by three external referees from advanced countries, which included Prof Dr Anthony Hayter of University of Denver, USA; Prof Dr Stute Winfried of University of Giessen, Germany; and Prof Mikhail Mikulin of University of Victor Segalen Arndstr, France. In their evaluation report, they compared the thesis at par with international standards.

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MoU signed with Uzbekistan for linguistic research
Peshawar: The University of Peshawar and Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies (TSIOS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for joint research scholars and faculty exchange programme in the field of linguistics.

The MoU was signed by University of Peshawar Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Azmat Hayat Khan with Rector of Tashkent Institute of Oriental Studies, said a press release on Thursday. The two institutions under the joint programme would arrange special trainings, research studies and workshops for faculty and students for promotion of oriental languages particularly Urdu, Pashto and Persian. Rector of the TSIOS Abdur Rehman Mananof said the MoU was a step towards enhancing cooperation between the two institutes as well as the two countries. The only way to establish good bilateral relations between nation states is to understand and get acquainted with their languages, he added. The news

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